Goldman Sachs & Co. (Europe)

Goldman Sachs provides a wide range of investment banking,
securities, and investment management services to a substantial and
diversified client base that includes corporations, financial
institutions, governments, and high-net-worth
individuals. Widely considered the most prestigious name in
investment banking, Goldman is headquartered in New York, and
maintains offices in London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and other
major financial centers around the world. Founded in 1869, the
venerable firm has many "firsts" to its credit. Goldman played
a major role in establishing the IPO markets in the early 1900s
and, five decades later, was the first firm to focus on the
institutional sales market. Goldman was also the first
investment bank to create a dedicated M&A group, negotiate a
trade on the New York Stock Exchange, and use emerging computer
technology to distribute its research reports
electronically. More recently, in the wake of the financial
crisis of 2007 and 2008, the bank received some less than stellar
press for some alleged dubious dealings. Even so, Goldman is still
the top dealmaker on Wall Street. For the first half of 2014,
the firm ranked No. 1 in U.S. announced M&A deal volume, EMEA
(Europe, Middle East, and Africa) announced M&A deal volume,
and worldwide announced M&A deal. It also ranked No. 1 in
global equity and equity-related offerings, global common stock,
EMEA equity and equity-related offerings, U.S. equity and
equity-related offerings, and U.S. IPOs for the same period.
Goldman Sachs is led by Lloyd Blankfein, its chairman and CEO, and
employs 32,600 people worldwide.